Inviting families and tutors

Why this exists

Moving families and tutors onto a new portal can swamp the front desk: everyone gets an email on the same morning, half of them cannot find their password, and nobody can tell who has signed in. Welcome emails let you invite people a few at a time, in your centre's own words, and see who is in, so the move is calm for families and for your staff.

Importing families and tutors from Teachworks or a spreadsheet makes their sign-ins but emails nobody. When you are ready, welcome them from Welcome emails, a few at a time, so your front desk is not flooded with questions on one morning.

This needs your centre's email to be connected in Integrations. Until it is, nothing is sent: any welcome emails you queue wait and go out once email is connected.

Send a wave

1. Open People, then Welcome emails.
2. Under Who, choose Parents or Tutors and staff. You need permission to edit families to welcome parents, and to edit users to welcome staff.
3. Under Which ones, choose:
   • Everyone not yet welcomed: everyone who has never had a welcome email and has never signed in.
   • One campus: the same, at the campus you pick.
   • Everyone: everyone who has not had a welcome email, including people who have already signed in.
4. Press Check how many. You see how many will get an email, roughly how long the wave takes, and how many were left out and why.
5. For parents, tick Also send a text if you want the link to go by text as well. It goes to parents with a mobile on file, from your centre's own Twilio number. If Twilio isn't connected in Integrations, the welcome goes by email only.
6. Press Confirm and queue. You will be asked for your two-step sign-in code if you have not used it this session.

The emails go out in the background at your centre's pace, 200 an hour unless you change it under Pace. Each person is welcomed once: a second wave never emails anybody again.

If your admin account is limited to some campuses, you can only welcome people at those campuses, and the pace is set by an admin for the whole centre.

What the emails say

Every email comes from your centre's own email and carries your centre's name and colours.

• Parents get a button to set up their account and a short note on what the family portal is for.
• Tutors and staff get the same link, plus the required training they have open in the academy: each course's name, how long it takes and when it is due. If your centre pays for training time, the email says the training is paid and should be finished in the first week. If it does not, the email does not mention pay.

The button opens a page on your portal with a Set up your account button, which takes the person to choose their password. The link works once and lasts 14 days, and sending a new welcome to someone stops their older link working. Anyone whose link has expired can use Forgot password on the sign-in page with the same email address.

The text, when you send one, is short and carries the same link. A text never goes to a number on file for a child, or to a number that has replied STOP to your centre.

Nobody is emailed at a child's login address, at an address that has bounced, or while their sign-in is switched off.

Change what they say

Under What they get on the same page you can edit the family email, the tutor and staff email, and the text.

1. Choose the message.
2. Edit the subject and the words. Use Insert to add a merge field: the person's first name, your centre's name, their welcome link, and for tutors their training list. A blank line starts a new paragraph, a line starting with "- " is a bullet, and two stars around words make them bold.
3. Watch the preview as you type. For the text, the counter shows how many texts it will be sent as.
4. Press Send me a test to send it to your own email address. A test text goes to the mobile saved in your Settings, or, if you have not saved one, to a mobile you type in for the test. The link in a test sets up no account.
5. Press Save wording. You need permission to edit settings or users, and your two-step sign-in code.

The button with each person's own link and your centre's footer are always added to the emails, so they can't be left out by mistake. A text must keep its link. Reset to the standard wording puts the original wording back.

See who has signed in

The list under the send panel shows each person's status:

• Not sent: no welcome email yet.
• Queued: waiting to go out.
• Sent: the email was accepted for delivery.
• Signed in: they have signed in, whatever the email did.
• Not delivered: the email could not be sent, or was left out because the address bounced or changed. The row says why.

For parents, a second label shows the text: Text sent, or Text not sent with the reason (for example, no mobile on file).

Filter the list by status, and use Resend (or Send welcome) on one person at a time. A resend to a parent with a mobile texts the link too when Twilio is connected. A family's page also shows each parent's welcome status, with the same button.

Who answers parents' messages

Parents can write to your front desk from Get help in their portal. The conversation lands in Mail for the people you choose.

1. Open Your centre and find Family support.
2. Tick the people who should receive these messages. Leave everyone unticked to use your admins and receptionists.
3. Add a Support phone if you want parents to see one beside your support email.
4. Press Save.

Parents see your support email and phone in their menu, at the foot of every page and on Get help. Your support email is set under Details on the same page.

Related

• Accounts that need a review
• Two-step sign-in